Bosquez to challenge Price for District 87 seat

AUSTIN — Former Potter County Democratic Party Chairman Abel Bosquez is running again for the Texas House District 87 Republican Four Price of Amarillo represents.

“My issues are the same, education and jobs,” Bosquez said after filing at the Texas Democratic Party headquarters in Austin on Monday. “I am going to start hammering at the way the Republican Legislature cut the budget for schools and how the cuts are hurting the kids.”

Price said he welcomes the challenge.

“It’s always good for the voters to have a choice,” Price said. “The voters will see a clear difference in philosophy and approach and will make a decision based on our differences.”

Bosquez, who also ran against Price in last year’s election when it was an open seat, is the first Democrat from the Panhandle/South Plains region running for a Texas Legislature seat in the March 6 primaries.

In last year’s election, he and Rep. Joe Heflin of Crosbyton were the only Democrats from the region on the ballot. And though Heflin — whom Rep. Jim Landtroop R-Plainview, defeated in the general election — has said he may run again, he won’t decide until the redistricting uncertainty is over.

An interim map for the Texas House a federal court in San Antonio proposed on Nov. 17 placed Heflin in House District 83, which Rep. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, represents. In the map the Republican-dominated Legislature drew — which civil rights groups and Democratic legislators are challenging on grounds that it violates the federal Voting Rights Act – Heflin would run in District 68, which departing Rep. Rick Hardcastle, R-Vernon, has represented since 1999.

Bosquez said he is aware he could well be the lone Democrat from the region running for a legislative seat.

“I know other people are reluctant to run,” he said. “I may be the only sacrificial lamb, but it’s important to do it. Sooner or later we’ll win.”

The Panhandle/South Plains region is the most Republican in Texas. Price’s district and District 86, which Amarillo’s John Smithee represents, are the most heavily Republican in the area.

For instance, in last year’s election Price defeated Bosquez and Libertarian Party of Texas candidate James Hudspeth of Dumas with 77 percent of the vote.

As for Smithee, except in 1984, when he ran for the first time, he has never had a Democratic opponent. In 2008 Amarillo attorney James Wood filed for his party’s primary but later withdrew his candidacy and moved to Albuquerque.

The deadline to file for next year’s Democratic and Republican primaries is Dec. 15.

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Thank you, Sir for giving us an alternative to the Rick Perry trained robots that we have in office now. Four Price couldn't decide on applesauce or peach cobbler without the input of his cronies Kay Bailey Hutchinson, John Cornyn and Mac Thornbery if his life depended on it.

Thank you for giving us someone to trust in and vote for ! I will spread your word !

...about our system when people call running for office "an incredible waste of time". I, for one, hate the one party system of the Texas Panhandle and am glad to see a Democrat running. As I am likely to be in Jim Landtroop's district, I will campaign in my area for Heflin if he gets the nod.

If any of you could sit down and converse with this man, you would never pull the lever, hit the touch screen, or punch the hole next to his name. IMHO, he does not understand issues enough to capably represent us in Austin and his scope of knowledge about the issues facing our state is limited.

You may be right. Such is often the case. He's not in my district, so I won't be voting for or against him either way.

But the thing is, we desperately need more than the single party system. It's pretty pathetic that elections in this area almost always end in March, and anyone who is not Republican ends up with little say because of the dearth of candidates. I would like to see candidates like Bosquez at least stir up discussion to encourage other people to file and run.

As for myself, I've learned that social anxiety and politics don't mix. You can't afford to let the grass grow under your feet and still mount a successful campaign. I'll support candidates, I'll campaign, but I have learned the hard way that I'm just not candidate material.

I went to high school with Four, he is a man of integrity. He truly cares about his constituents District 87. If you were fortunate enough to hear him speak as I have, you would know that the decisions that were made in the last session were difficult ones, esp. education. We all want our kids to be well educated and our teachers to get paid more but as a double edged sword, we don't want to pay more taxes to make that happen. Education , jobs, and border security are very important issues. If they raised taxes to pay for this people would be missing and moaning about that too. We can't have it both ways. The next session will be worse, with all the Medicaid deficits. If you need Medicaid and food stamps I think you should get them. I don't think the government should bring refugees here and give them food stamps, jobs, and Medicaid if we can't even support our own. But that comes from Federal government. Sorry, got off the subject.
Anyway, Four will always have my vote. I know he is a man who wants to make a good difference for the state and the panhandle. I am neither Republican or Democrat, I vote for the person and what they see as the future for Texas and the Panhandle. Four keep up the good work!!!!

I don't know Four, I have nothing against the man, but a one party system serves nobody. I honestly wonder if many of our politicians weren't good folks to start out with, but because they didn't have to truly test their ideas in front of the electorate, slowly compromised their ideals. I'm not saying that Four, or anyone specific, would do that, but we do have elections for a reason.

If Four remains in office, it should be because he is the better candidate, not because he is the only one.